Shakefest multicultural festival comes to your home online

Multicultural festival Shakefest is still with us, and will happen on June 6th and 7th in a new online format.

Now 15 years in operation, it is continuing to bring dance, movement, energy and creative culture to you in its new format for 2020, free and online.

Each year, this eclectic family festival gathers adults, teenagers, children and parents alike in the beautiful setting of Charleville Castle, to come and experience plenty of creative and cultural activities. Although we are missing our location hub Charleville Castle, Culture Center of the Irish Midlands, we are now offering a mix of cultural and creative workshops in an online format through Zoom.

For its 15th birthday, the festival has not let Covid-19 thwart them from delivering inspirational, and creatively educational activities for everyone in their homes!

Children’s workshops this year are all about improvisation, creativity and imagination that starts on June 6th at 12pm with a workshop by Meghana Rao, an international dance instructor. She started learning the Indian dance style Bharatanatyam at the age of 5 and has been practicing dance ever since. She will first conduct an Introduction to Bollywood for kids up to age 8 with parental supervision, but any age can join too.

With the objective of taking us through the basic conceptual steps of creating characters firstly through the building of simple shapes in downloadable app Flipaclip at 2pm, Matthew Watkins - artist and illustrator from Italy, will introduce ages 6-12 to a Hand-Drawn Animation workshop. This workshop is ideal for children who are fans of drawing and want to build on their initial skills (parent or guardian required).

At 4pm, Matthew returns with an Introduction to TAGTOOL Animation and Projection for ages 12 and up, a brilliant animation program that professionals use to animate and project their moving art onto large buildings.  He will start with an introduction of himself and his work, and show a short video clip of some of his past animations and performances, including the Tagtool program. Tagtool is currently only on iPads with OS11 and up.

On Saturday, June 6th at 5pm, Meghana returns with her Indian Classical Workshop at a general level.  This workshop is an introduction to Indian Classical dance with key focus on the Bharatanatyam style. The practical session includes basic footwork, hand gestures, eye and neck movements, facial expressions, basic make-up and dressing.  Participants will learn to dance to one complete song and dance which will also involve the explanation of mythological characters involved in the dance style.  This workshop is for adults only, but no previous experience is required.

On Sunday, June 7th at 3pm, Meghana also teaches Indian Classical Dance at an Intermediate Level of Bharatanatyam. Meghana will teach the dance style of Abhinaya darpana, and Natyashastra are used as theoretical basis for classical dance theory.  Students will learn hastas and viniyogas (hand gestures and their utility), eye movements, neck movements and navarasa (nine types of emotions).  This workshop is for adults only and must have at least five years previous experience in any dance genre, or previous experience in learning the Bharatanatyam dance style.

All workshops will take place by online meeting software, Zoom. Organisers can give you the best advice on how to install Zoom and how to join the workshop in the easiest way in order to help with this transition. If you like the sound of any of our workshops, please visit the Shakefest website for all details and register by e-mail with the workshop(s) of your preference. You can register by sending an e-mail to info@shakefest.net with the workshop(s) of your choice and your full name. Spaces are limited to ten per workshop so book well in advance to avoid disappointment.

Lastly, Shakefest is determined that our audience is not going to go without our well known multicultural dance and music recital, or ‘Hafla’ (meaning impromptu, fun and casual performances) as we call it. We have been fortunate enough to gather some wonderful creative and cultural performers, as well as our guest instructors, from different places in the world, to pre-record a performance and share it from their homes to yours.  Expect the usual inspiring and eclectic mix of talent you would otherwise expect from the Grand Ballroom of Charleville Castle, but just this year, from the comfort of your own home. Included in this evening entertainment is a special online Art Exhibition from renowned African Artist Rosemarie Kamana, currently living in Cork, as well as her sustainable clothing line KAMANA.

Shakefest’s Virtual Hafla will be coming to you via Watch Party on our Shakefest Facebook page, as well as a Youtube link and will also be available to watch on our Shakefest website homepage from 7pm onwards on Saturday, June 6th.

For more information about Shakefest, please visit www.shakefest.net or email us at info@shakefest.net and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Shakefest is supported by the Offaly County Council Arts Office.